well, for starters, as much as we'd like him to be, sam is NOT the origin of the saying. he was, however, one interesting cat...
sam was the son of a civil war era abolitionist physician. after attending harvard, he became a successful lawyer and ultimately became obsessed with building roads in the northwest. he built what was basically a versailles-like home on a bluff overlooking the columbia river gorge, naming it after his daughter, mary. his wife apparently wasn't too enamored of the northwestern weather so sam, along with queen marie of rumania, a famous dancer named loie fuller and san francisco sugar heiress alma de bretteville spreckels turned the property into the art museum it is today. (for the longer story, and there's a lot more, click here)
when you first pull into the grounds you encounter this beautiful sculpture garden. from the warning signs, ("be careful, they bite!"), i gather that there are quite a few peacocks wandering the premises in the warmer weather. didn't see any, although the signs did remind me that i was once chased around the grounds of an inn in vermont by a couple of pissed off geese....anyway, on to the sculptures...
next time: turns out sam liked to collect these extraordinary chess sets from around the world and was also good buddies with auguste rodin.......not to mention the 3/4 size replica of stonehenge...
listening to michael troy mill town boy
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